School Director Candidate Spotlight: Joy Beers — Lehighton Area School District

This installment of our series of interviews with school director candidates across Pennsylvania brings us to the Lehighton Area School District.

Joy Beers is running for school director in the Lehighton Area School District, located in Carbon County. She is a registered Republican and a structural engineer.

Why are you running for school board? 

I have served two terms and am running for a third term. Our board is currently all Republican, and we have put policies into place that protect children from sexualization via popular culture trends. Also we have balanced the budget and gave a tax decrease this year. We want to continue to do good work.

What are the most important issues facing your district?

Local property taxes are hurting the residents and local economy. Our school has fallen behind in academic achievement: we have much work to repair the broken curriculum.

What is your professional background/experience? What skills would you bring to the board?

I am a structural engineer and own my own engineering company which designs primarily datacenter retrofits. What I bring to the table is data-based decision-making instead of emotions, fiscal responsibility, and the ability to collaborate by finding mutually beneficial solutions.

Have you run for political office previously? Have you been politically active?

I have won two terms on this school board previously. We have a political action committee (PAC) and have worked hard for eight years to build a new board and to maintain it.

Are you running with other candidates?

Yes, I am running with Duane Dellecker, Kirk Henritzy (write in), Denise Hartley (write in), and Darin Dotter (write in). Three of our candidates were pushed off the primary ballot in May due to cross-filing Democrats.

What is the most important role of the school board in your opinion? 

Schools have become a political battlefield. As a consequence, communities are over-taxed to pay for politics, and children have become the victims of ideological wars. The role of the board is to make sure that children are being appropriately educated and to make sure that taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted on politics.

Please list any campaign websites and social media sites.

Facebook page: Build A Board

We contacted the Democratic and Republican committees in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh, and Montgomery counties and asked them to share the questions with their school director candidates. Broad + Liberty will post the responses throughout the summer to assist voters in learning about the candidates running in their district. The series is open to any school director on the ballot in November. Please contact barosica@broadandliberty.com for more information.